


Nothing at All

by everythingmurky



Series: An Unintentional Paradox [2]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 18:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9620732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everythingmurky/pseuds/everythingmurky
Summary: Rose cares for the man Mickey hit with his car, the one who seems to know her, and things get complicated when he wakes up.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I am doing a bit of... well, maybe celebrating? I did find my TARDIS (it's a necklace charm, bout an inch tall, easily lost when the chain is broken) and I also found more of this story. I'd thought the files on my computer were it, and this wasn't done, but I had a hand-written bit that could round this out a bit, so I'll share it, too.
> 
> It follows Welcome to Earth, Exactly as It Was Before You Left. That was the prologue. This was meant to be chapter one, back when I thought I'd be able to make a whole story out of it.
> 
> And now, headache permitting, I will try and work on Child of Time.

* * *

_The first eighteen years of my life, nothing happened, nothing at all..._

* * *

“And what's this, then? What do you think you're doing, bringing a strange man into my house?” Rose's mum demanded as Rose and Mickey dragged the man that Mickey'd hit into their place. They shouldn't have been there in the first place; they'd been bloody lost for hours, and she didn't even know how they'd found their way back again. She knew her mum wouldn't be happy with this, but she wasn't willing to do what Mickey said and just leave him, not even at a hospital.

“Mum, Mickey hit hit him with his car, and he could sue,” Rose began. She was going to catch hell for this. She was supposed to be looking for a job. _One month,_ her mum had said, _one month you can stay, but you've got to find yourself a job._ She'd had one, until she asked for time off for her exams. “We've none of us the money for that, so please, let's just take care of him and hope that he doesn't sue, okay?”

Jackie stared at her for a long time, trying to make up her mind. She sighed, finally, and pointed to the couch. “Fine. But he's your responsibility. You'll be feeding him, taking care of him. Not me.”

“Mum, he's not a dog,” Rose protested. Mickey snorted with laughter, and she glared at him. “Mickey, go get some bandages. Mum, do we have any clothes that we can put him in? Something clean, maybe from...?”

“I've got your dad's old pyjamas,” Jackie said softly. “Never could let those go. Here, let me help you, Rose.”

Mickey started to protest as Rose and her mum took off the man's coat. Jackie draped it over a chair, and Rose undid his tie. He moaned a little, and she looked at him. There had been something about the way he'd said her name earlier, a sense of longing and desire, almost like he _knew_ her. And she stared helplessly at him. She'd never met this man before, though he was foxy for an older guy. She looked back at Mickey, guilty for the thought. It was just that... Well, part of her felt like she knew him, too. _Maybe you just_ want _to know him,_ teased a little voice that sounded suspiciously like Shareen.

She _had_ a boyfriend, she reminded herself. But getting to know this man wasn't a bad idea. Couldn't be a bad idea. She didn't think so, couldn't believe that. 

He moaned again, calling her name. Jackie grabbed her arm. “What's this? Do you know him?”

“He heard Mickey say my name, that's all,” Rose told her. She wasn't so sure of that herself, but she had to tell her mum that. “He's probably just confused. He came out of nowhere, Mum. He was just...there. I bet he doesn't even know what happened.”

“You should take him to the hospital,” Jackie said. “What do you know about doctoring anyhow? What if something's really wrong with him? What will you do then, Rose?”

“I'll get help,” Rose told her. “Where's Mickey with those bandages?”

“I sent him to the store,” Jackie said, taking out the bandages from her pocket. Rose stared at her mother in shock. Jackie shrugged. “He was in the way. Honestly, Rose, he follows you like a stray dog or something.”

“Mickey's harmless,” Rose said, but as she touched a cloth to the man's forehead, cleaning the wound. He stirred again, reaching for something. She wasn't sure what he wanted, and she doubted he knew, either. His hand found hers. She swallowed, wondering how she could feel like this about a man she didn't know.

“Okay, Rose. I'll leave you to it, then. I'll even distract Mickey, but I'm warning you, he's not staying,” Jackie said, heading for the door. Rose bit her lip, and she looked down at the man again. 

“Who are you?” she asked, touching his face.

* * *

“Now, you've had _three_ days, Rose, and I'm telling you, you've got to take him to a hospital,” Jackie said as she got up, coming into the front room. Rose lifted her head from the couch. She had fallen asleep next to her strange man again, and her neck was aching. She rubbed it and looked at her mother.

“All right, Mum. I'll take him there after I've had a quick shower, all right?” Rose said, looking down at the same clothes she had been wearing since the accident. She _had_ to know why. She wanted to talk to him. And she didn't want him to go. It was weird. She had been avoiding Mickey for the past three days, spending all her time with the man she had rescued.

She finished her shower and towelled off. Her mother knocked on the door. “Rose, love, I've left your food for you, and your tea. I'm off to work now. Mind what I said, take him to the hospital.”

“Yes, Mum,” Rose agreed, pulling on her clothes. She picked up a comb and dragged it through her hair. She was a right mess, even after her shower. She shrugged. Who was she trying to impress, anyhow? It wasn't like anything could ever come of her and the man in the front room. He was too old for her. 

She went back into the front room. Her mother had left the tea on the table, and she picked it up, taking a sip. “Oi. That was mine.”

She dropped the cup, spilling the tea all over the carpet. Oh, her mum was going to kill her. “You're awake.”

“I am. I've a fearful headache, and _you_ stole my tea,” he said, sitting up. He touched his head with a grimace. “What happened? Where am I? And would you mind getting me another, seeing as how you've spilled mine?”

“Right,” Rose agreed. She went into the kitchen and started pouring a cup. When she turned around, he was right behind her. She jumped. “Blimey, do you want to see me covered in tea? Really?”

He smiled apologetically, running a hand through his hair and over his face. She offered the cup to him, and he took it from her, sniffing it before taking a slow sip. He made a face and tried to hide it as she giggled. He frowned. “Do I... know you?”

“You don't... you don't remember anything, do you?” Rose asked, suddenly sure of it. Oh, what had they _done?_ This man had lost _everything._ He didn't know who he was, what he had been doing...

“Nope," he said, giving the 'p' a pop as he spoke, and shrugging. "Don't remember a _thing._ Not necessarily bad, mind you, 'cause that makes everything new, but then again, maybe there are things that _shouldn't_ be new, and there will always be that little voice in the back of my head _wondering_ if I've done this before, and that could drive a man completely bonkers—“

“You're going to drive _me_ completely bonkers if you keep doing that,” she told him. He stopped, grimacing a little. “Look, have a seat, we can talk. We—I—I'm sorry about what happened.”

He shrugged. “I don't remember. So stop apologizing. It's pretty useless under the circumstances. I know—tell me about yourself. No use talking about me. Don't remember. I suppose you were about to tell me why I don't, hmm? I should really listen, shouldn't I? So... tell me. Everything. About you, about the square root of the hypotenuse—what?”

She couldn't help the smile. “All right, then. My name's Rose Tyler. This is the Powell Estate. I live here with my mum. My mate Mickey, he was driving—”

“Oh, that's boring,” he interrupted with a frown. “What's your favourite colour? The airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? What do you do when there's no one around? And do you have any bananas?”

She laughed. God help her, she _liked_ him.

* * *

Rose watched her strange man, wondering how exactly all this had happened. Her and Mickey getting lost, Mickey hitting him, taking him in—she couldn't believe that she'd claimed she'd done it to avoid a lawsuit, or that anyone else had believed her. She wasn't sure why she'd done it. She just knew that now that he was awake, everything was different. This was so unreal. _Nothing ever happens in my life. Nothing at all. So why is he here? Why did this happen?_

“Something the matter?” he asked, rubbing his temple. He had done that a lot, still in pain, she supposed. He looked at her, and she felt her stomach twist up. She should take him to see a doctor, make sure he was going to be okay, even if he couldn't remember.

“Not at all,” she said, shaking her head. “You don't remember anything?”

“Why should that bother you? I'm the one who doesn't know,” he said, reaching for his tea. “Bananas. We need bananas. Are you _sure_ that you don't have any?”

“You're obsessed, you are,” she told him, finding herself grinning. She couldn't seem to keep the smile off her face. He grinned back at her. His insanity—he was looney, utterly balmy—was contagious. And she loved it.

“Maybe. I really like bananas, though,” he said, reaching into pocket. He frowned a bit, but when he looked up at her, he was all smiles again. “So... I suppose you wan to send me off to a hospital.”

“No. I mean, yes, you should go to the hospital, but no, I don't want to take you there,” she admitted, not sure how he would take that.

“That settles it, then. I'm not going. I don't like hospitals. Don't like them one bit. So, I'm not going and you're not taking me. Understood?”

She nodded. “Yeah, all right, but... what about your memory? Don't you think that you should get checked out, try and get it back?”

“Oh, maybe after the novelty wears off,” he agreed. “Right now, it's just fascinating. The things I remember, the things that I _don't..._ Take the bananas. Obviously, I really, really, really like bananas. Still, why is a banana more important than my own name? Why do I remember something called a _transgenetic neutron stabilizing matrix_ and not what I had for breakfast? Intriguing concept, amnesia. Utterly riveting.”

“A trans _what?”_ Rose asked, frowning. “Wait, are you actually enjoying your amnesia? No one enjoys amnesia, not on the telly, at least. And that other stuff? I've never heard of it. Are you a scientist? I've never heard of anything like that, but then I did fail biology. And I've never been good at maths.”

He shrugged. “I've got ideas running around this brain of mine that don't make much sense. Side effect of the amnesia? Or maybe I'm just a complete nutter.”

“You are,” she said, smiling at him, “but I think you're the harmless kind. Want to come with me to get some bananas, then? I'd hate to bring some back only to have them not meet your standards, Banana Man.”

“Oi, just because I haven't got a name doesn't mean you can go around giving me one, Rose Tyler,” he said, getting to his feet. “Did I have a jacket? Long one, tan and... long?”

She nodded, rising, her cheeks hurting a bit from the smile that never seemed to leave her face when she was with him. “Yeah, you did, but shouldn't you be more worried about the suit you're missing? Coat's one thing, but... you know.”

“Oh, right,” he said, looking down. “In my jim-jams. Well, not mine, but very Arthur Dent. Have you my clothes, then? Neat and tidy, I'd assume, since they're missing. Or do I assume too much. They weren't ruined, were they? That suit... I'm suddenly feeling quite attached to that suit.”

“You're an odd one,” she told him, going around the chair to where her mum had left the laundry. She picked up his suit and passed it back to him, not sure if she should mention that her mum had done the washing. “Down the hall. The loo, I mean.”

“Oh, yes, very important,” he said. He lifted up the pile of his clothes, grinning, and started down the hall. Then he turned back, darting close to her. He kissed her cheek and dashed off again, leaving her staring after him.

And Rose knew she was in trouble. A _lot_ of trouble.


End file.
